Kathak: The Classical Dance of India, Part 3 of 3

"There are two kinds of costumes in Kathak. The first is a Hindu costume that makes use of a skirt, a blouse, and a belt. The second costume is a Muslim costume, also known as a muglai costume. Today, first of all I shall show the traditional costume of kathak, which is also called lehenga choli (skirt blouse). This is our lehenga blouse. The blouse, which is called choli in Hindi, is worn on the upper part of the body. Lehenga, which is called a skirt in English, is worn on the lower part. It also has a border on the lower part. That is called dupatta. This is the belt that is used to hold dupatta. And it has a border on its sleeves as well as in back."

"This costume is basically the Mughal style costume. This is a one-piece costume. It has a major requirement that our skin should not be visible. The Mughals believed, or the Muslims believed, that whatever costume we wear over the body should not show any of our body parts."

"For Kathak, I think the one thing that's needed is balance, because when you spin, you have to have balance to come back to the same position, so that balance needs to be there. But these are the basic requirements, stamina and balance. A dancer needs to stay fit; a dancer needs to stay pure within. I think a vegetarian diet is something that should be taken up because it keeps you pure within; it keeps you hydrated. So, when you're pure, I think it shows in your dance, it shows in your performances, it shows on your face."

"For a dancer, I think whenever we dance it's like worshiping God. It's like that connection with the Divine, and especially in Kathak, we have different stories related to gods. So, everything, I think, in the end takes us to the Divine power.“ ” In all the classical dances, the journey of a dancer is such that [it] makes you peaceful, makes you content. And if you're content, I think that's the best thing. And that makes you pure because you're worshiping all the time and you're somehow connected to the Divine. So, it's all love outside; you spread love, you give love." "So that's, something any artist, I think would do, any artist would spread love."